If God is so good, why are things so bad? If you haven’t asked yourself this question yet in life then you will. It makes perfect sense to want to know how a good God could come up with such a bad place? Sure, we realize there are some good things in life and many beautiful people, places, and things. However, with so much pain and destruction shouldn’t there be someone to hang the blame on for all of it? It would make sense to look at the One we claimed created it all and let the buck stop there. But what if there is more to the story than we have taken the time to consider? What if there’s even a conspiracy going on trying to sabotage our faith? I think a story my Dad told me about watermelon and the fruit of the fall may help clear it up for you.
Growing up on the gulf coast in south Alabama, summertimes weren’t truly summertimes without watermelon. I love the stuff. My Dad knew as much so one day when I asked him the existential question, “if God is so good why is the world so bad?”, he pointed out my love for watermelon. He asked me to imagine having a friend over to our house who had never seen or tasted watermelon before. “Imagine how excited you’d be to cut it up, put it in a bowl and walk outside to the picnic table to serve that juicy sweetness to your friend”, he said. Then he asked me to imagine while I was carrying this wonderful experience to my friend that I fell and the watermelon scattered across the ground. Now, that beautiful fruit has grass, dirt, rocks, and bugs all over it. Dad said, “imagine gathering all of that fruit back in the bowl and then serving it to your friend. What do you think his opinion of watermelon is going to be?” I thought, “not very good… and how could I like it so much?” (Click here to read my post, “How Could God Let This Happen?”)
Not Quite Ripe
In this little illustration my Dad shared with me I got my clearest understanding of the impact of the “fall of man.” My friend who had never tried watermelon before would have a skewed view of the fruit, and of me, if he ate that soiled watermelon without understanding there was a fall that tainted the fruit. Many people in this world have had this experience. They were told God was good and He created good things. Then they “bit into the watermelon” and maybe tasted a hint of its sweetness but also broke a tooth on the rock that had become embedded as result of the fall. Because of this, they despise the fruit, the person who shared it with them, and the one who created it in the first place. We cannot overemphasize the importance of understanding the fall. So what is it?
The Bible tells us God created a perfect world, a perfect earth, and perfect people that were never supposed to die. Everything in His sight was good and that is precisely how He created it to be. That goodness was tainted when Adam and Eve chose to disobey God. By doing so, they “fell” from their state of perfection and thus opened the door to sin and evil. That sin and evil spread like cancer and is still spreading today. It’s in our fallen nature, our polluted world, and our depraved minds. Now, when people hear that God is good and created good things they look around and think “how could anyone think this is good, and who could ever think the One who created it all is good?” We must account for the fall or we will be confused about the gift and the Giver. (Click here to read my post, “God Broke My Heart”)
Jesus Shares His Thoughts on the Matter
Jesus address this same idea in Matthew 13 when he tells the story of the weeds and the wheat. He explains how a good Farmer (God) planted good seed but an enemy (satan) came in the night and planted weeds among the wheat and ran away. When the crop came up the workers accused the Farmer of not planting good seed and He had to explain to them He was not the one who planted weeds but an enemy had done it. The workers were blaming the good Farmer for the bad things happening in the field. That was the enemy’s plan all along and it’s still happening even now.
Today, when you get a hint of the sweetness of God’s original design as you feel the cool breeze on your face, hear the laughs of little children as they play, or gaze into the night sky and wonder at the stars, remember all the beauty and wonder God has created that still testifies of His love and grace. And when you encounter the fruit of the fall; the tainted parts of this life where there is sickness, disease, heartbreak and abuse, recall that there was a fall that brought about such pain and that God has promised there is coming a day soon when He will make ALL THINGS NEW! We have a glorious hope. Jesus will come and destroy the works of the enemy, will pull all the weeds, and will restore everything to the way He originally designed it to be. We have no idea how good that watermelon is going to taste. I can’t wait! (Click here to read my post, “Am I A Failure For Being Faithful?”)
From the Bible:
And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. -Genesis 2:8-9 ESV
“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ – Matthew 13:24-28 ESV
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” -Revelation 21:1-4 ESV